Apart from a few further minor hits on the Billboard charts, his subsequent albums failed to replicate his smash success in the American market, so he turned to songwriting for other artists. In the early 1980s, he continued to have popular hits in Canada such as "Helpless" in 1983 and "Love in the Shadows" the same year.

In 1987, he returned to the Billboard charts with the Top 40 hit "Can't We Try", a duet with the then-unknown Vonda Shepard, as well as the near Top 40 hit "Never Thought (That I Could Love)", which would be his final American hit. He continued to record well into the 1990s scoring more cross Canada hits such as "I Fall All Over Again" in 1991.

He is the son of social scientist and public servant Daniel G. Hill, and brother of author Lawrence Hill.